Saturday, January 29, 2005

Three new school records were set by Valparaiso on Saturday afternoon as the Crusaders competed at the Redbird Invitational held in Bloomington, Ill.

The 4x400m relay, comprised of Amanda Meyer (Somerset, Wis./Somerset H.S.), Mary Frisch (Chesterton, Ind./Chesterton H.S.), Melanie Wilson (Saint Louis, Mo./Rosati-Kain H.S.), and Maggie Zellner (Downers Grove, Ill./Benet Academy), turned in a school best time of 4:02.98 to finish second in the event. The team bettered the 2003 mark of 4:05.60.

Individually, Wilson set her sixth record of the season, five individual and the 4x400m relay, in the preliminary heat of the 60m hurdles. Her time of 9.10 seconds bested Becky Eager's mark of10.26 seconds set in 2001. Wilson also placed second in the long jump with a leap of 17'3 1/2".

Holly Hagen (Hobart, Ind./Hobart H.S.) set the other new school mark in the shot put. Her heave of 43'0 1/2" earned her a third place finish in the event, and topped her old record of 41'5" set in 2004. Hagen also won the weight throw with a toss of 51'9 3/4".

Back on the oval, Danielle Nunnelly (Valparaiso, Ind./Valparaiso H.S.) and Rachael Button (Farmington, Mich./Farmington H.S.) finished one-two in the 3,000m run. Nunnelly crossed the finish line with a time of 10:20.03, topping her teammate by 4.17 seconds. Katrina Robertson (Shelton, Wash./Shelton H.S.) and Meyer tied for second in the pole vault. Each cleared 9'9 3/4".

Kristy Popp (Willmar, Minn./Bowman H.S., N.D.) finished in third place for the Brown and Gold in the 800m run with a time of 2:20.13.

Valparaiso will return to action next Saturday morning as selected individuals will compete in the Meyo Invitational held in Notre Dame, Ind. Events begin at 9 a.m. CST on Saturday morning.